OPINION | Unhoused people deserve to know how the new ordinance on camp sweeps will be applied. P ortland City Council last week unanimously passed an ordinance on homelessness put forward by Commissioner Dan Ryan. While the ordinance instructs the city t ...
7 Jul 2021 - Kaia Sand
OPINION | Leo Rhodes reminds us that people’s needs vary: ‘You might not need it, but somebody else will’ “ I think it’s great,” Leo Rhodes told me of the range of camp villages the city and county governments are floating for Portland. “What I like about ...
9 Jun 2021 - Kaia Sand
OPINION | How should Portland and Multnomah County funding be spent for what is, in fact, a diversity of needs? How could the city of Portland possibly sweep unhoused people when there’s nowhere to go? And about those places to go — where and what should ...
26 May 2021 - Kaia Sand
WRAP Director Paul Boden discusses why it matters to pass the Right to Rest Act The Right to Rest Act was born on the streets. The Western Regional Advocacy Project — of which Street Roots was a founding member in 2005 — crafted it based on reports from ...
9 Apr 2021 - Kaia Sand
OPINION | We must build on these transformative gains, which have been necessary all along T iny house villages on city land. Car and RV safe parking. Motels purchased for housing. Public toilets. Cash for the poor. These are some gains made for people li ...
24 Mar 2021 - Kaia Sand
OPINION | Tell the City Council that Portland needs to expand options for houseless residents Parking lots where people in cars and RVs can safely park while accessing hygiene services. Campsites supported by garbage pickup, hand-washing stations and port ...
3 Mar 2021 - Kaia Sand
OPINION | It is a tragically flawed decision to evict people from Hazelnut Grove when people are living and dying on the streets F rom the Overlook bluff, I looked down at Hazelnut Grove, nestled among evergreen trees and brush. Then I took in the larger ...
9 Feb 2021 - Kaia Sand
OPINION | Too often, the city of Portland does battle with communities like Hazelnut Grove rather than building from the leadership on the streets Scott placed the small ship by his window, light streaming through its sails. “We like to think that’s the s ...
27 Jan 2021 - Kaia Sand
Rick Davis has been working on a memorial for Street Roots vendors for the past year. This year marks 30 years since Homeless Persons’ Memorial Day began. Longtime Street Roots vendor Rick Davis jumps in where he sees a need. He hauled a wagon full of Ros ...
16 Dec 2020 - Kaia Sand
DIRECTOR’S DESK | Let's not wait for private equity firms to snatch up financially distressed properties There’s a kind of optimism that we speak of at Street Roots — a wild optimism — that I’d describe as a commitment to hopeful, bold ideas despite ...
2 Dec 2020 - Kaia Sand